Category: Beef

So you just bought a beautiful piece of meat and you want to roast it. What do you need to know?

There are two main reasons for tying (or trussing) a roast. The first of course, because you stuffed it and you’d like for all that delicious stuffing to stay exactly where you put it. The second reason though, may be less obvious.

Heat has a beautiful way of breaking things down. When you expose your roast to heat, the fat and connective tissues start to break down. While this process provides for a juice and tender final result, it takes away from the original structure of the meat. What was once a beautiful, robust hunk a meat ends up looking flat and kinda sad– not to mention that its new irregular shape will cause it to cook unevenly, leaving you with side bits that are over done and dried out.

Trussing your roast with cotton butchers twine is the perfect way to ensure a juicy and beautiful final result.

Chef de Cuisine Matt Abdoo from Del Posto Ristorante recently taught us how to truss a roast using the classic approach known as the continuous knot technique.

Don’t worry, we tried it ourselves and we promise it’s easier then you think!

Be sure to leave any questions in the comments section, and GOOD LUCK!

Our revered Akaushi/Angus beef is now available as fresh 3 – 4lb roasts, perfect for 4-8 people. Roast it whole or custom cut your own steaks with nothing more than a sharp knife. Butcher to spec and freeze the rest! Order today as supplies are limited! Roasts are available fresh for 1 week only.

While there are many variations on what can be called Wagyu, ours is the result of a mixing of the revered Akaushi breed (or Japanese red cow) with America’s mighty Angus. Our Akaushi are sourced from the very same family of farms that first brought the breed to the States, Akaushi being perhaps the most marbled beef in the world. The beef is fed no antibiotics or added hormones and is pasture-raised and grain-finished.

It’s cold. Colder than it’s been in my five years living on the East Coast.

As much as I would love to stay under a blanket all day, I, like many of you, must feed myself. Here are a two of my favorite easy winter dishes – delicious meals that have the added benefit of heating up your kitchen!

Potatoes, cheese, veggies, and meat – what more could you ask for on a cold evening? Alton Brown at the Food Network has an easy recipe featuring ground lamb and BBC Food has a fun alternative featuring beef chilli.

With Labor Day coming up, there is still time to grill up the perfect steak. You can go crazy with fancy marinades or dry rubs, but I love just a simple steak where you can taste the flavor of the meat. This is a recipe for a beautiful salt and pepper rib eye. You’ll really taste our different beef breeds with this unpretentious preparation. You can thank us later.

Salt-and-Pepper Rib Eye

2 servings

Salt Pepper Ribeye

Photo credit; Penden + Munk

1 2-lb. bone-in rib-eye steak (1½ to 2 inches thick)

2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

1 tsp. coarsely cracked black peppercorns

Vegetable oil, for brushing

Coarse sea salt

A well-marbled rib eye is so rich and flavorful on its own that it requires nothing more than salt, pepper, and fire. Build a 2-zone fire so you can sear it over hot embers then finish cooking it slowly over medium-low heat to develop a crispy, crunchy steakhouse crust and a juicy interior. If you’re working with a boneless rib eye, lower the cooking time by a few minutes.

Put steak on a wire rack set on a rimmed baking sheet. Pat dry with paper towels. Season with . tsp. kosher salt per side. Let stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Pat dry with paper towels. Season again with ½ tsp. salt per side; press in ½ tsp. cracked peppercorns per side so pieces adhere.

Build a 2-zone medium-hot/medium-low fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to high just before cooking, leaving one burner on low. Brush grill grate with oil. Sear steak over higher heat, flipping once, until nicely charred, 3 to 4 minutes per side. (If a flare-up occurs, use tongs to gently slide the steak to a cooler part of grill.) Move steak to lower heat and continue grilling, flipping once, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Using tongs, lift steak and sear both edges (the bone side and the fat-cap side) for 1 to 2 minutes per side to render out some of the fat. Grill steak to desired temperature, 14 to 18 minutes total or until instant-read thermometer registers 120ÅãF for rare (steak will carry over to 120° F, or medium-rare, as it rests).

Transfer steak to work surface; let rest for 10 minutes. Slice against the grain, season with coarse sea salt.

I love meatballs. They are tasty and there is a hint of nostalgia to them. But more importantly they are easy to make and can take on any flavor profile you desire. I often cook up a big batch and toss in the freezer for lazy Monday meals. Sometimes I will use beef, but I also love lamb, ground pork, turkey or bison.

I’ll take a pound of ground meat and mix up with various herbs for different flavors so I don’t get bored with the meatballs. I’ve made ones with garlic and basil or some with a hint of curry powder. I’ve tried a Moroccan style with a few pinches of cumin, smoked paprika, cinnamon and a large spoonful of harissa (or any hot red pepper paste). Last week I made lamb meatballs with mint, rosemary and a touch of lemon zest.

Preheat the oven to 350. Just grab a big bowl and mix up all the following ingredients:

1 lb ground meat

1 egg (whisk first)

2-3 tablespoons of onion or scallion

1-2 cloves of garlic (I love garlic so put in 2 large ones)

¼ cup of bread crumbs

3 tablespoons of any herb or spice mixture you choose (mine above are with mint and rosemary, but basil or thyme would be delicious. You could also go spicy and do chili or curry powder.)

zest of 1 lemon

pinch of salt and pepper

Form your meatballs in any size you choose (I did 20 small meatballs with a pound of meat) and put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes for small meatballs, a touch more if you make them larger. Let them cool completely then freeze in ziplock bags.

I was in the mood for Greek so I put the cooked lamb meatballs onto a toasted pita with a yogurt sauce (yogurt and a few drops of lemon juice) and topped with a sprinkle of mint and sea salt. You could also make spaghetti and meatballs a la Lady and the Tramp. Or a meatball sub. Enjoy!

Grilling is the world’s oldest method of cooking and here at Heritage Foods USA we take it seriously. So, when we saw that Adam Rapoport, editor of Bon Appétit magazine, had compiled a collection of 380 recipes called The Grilling Book: the Definitive Guide from Bon Appétit, our stomachs started to growl.The entire office has been drooling over this door-stopper of a book as much because of the beautiful images as the recipes themselves.

Rapoport not only shares some of the most delicious and inspiring recipes from the pages of Bon Appétit, he also offers helpful advice for both the novice and professional grill-master. This is definitely a book you’ll want to keep close to your grill this summer.

One of our staff favorites is the Jalapeño Cheeseburgers with Bacon. This would be delicious with any of our varieties of burger – Angus, Akaushi/Angus, Highland or even Bison. Topped with bacon from any of our five kinds of Heritage Bacon for the perfect summer treat.

Why aren’t you at the grill yet?

Jalapeño Cheeseburgers with Bacon

Makes 8

If you’re a chile hound, here’s one for you. Chopped jalapeño is blended straight into the burgers (if you want to amp up the heat even more, include some of the seeds) and gives spice to the spicy ranch sauce. The burgers gain another layer of flavor from a Worcestershire-coffee glaze that gets brushed on while they grill.

Whisk first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl to blend. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

BURGERS

Gently mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form mixture into eight ½- to ¾-inch thick patties. Using your thumb, make a small indentation in the center of each. Place on a small baking sheet. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

GLAZE

Stir first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until coffee is dissolved. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter. Season glaze to taste with salt and pepper. Working in batches if necessary, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat until crisp and brown. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to high. Brush grill grate with oil. Toast buns until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer buns, cut side up, to plates. Place lettuce on each bun bottom. Grill burgers for 2 to 3 minutes, basting with glaze. Turn burgers and baste with glaze. Press cheese atop each burger. Grill until cooked to desired doneness, 2 to 3 minutes longer for medium-rare. Spread some sauce on buns and assemble burgers, topping each with 2 slices bacon and additional toppings as desired.

From The Grilling Book: the Definitive Guide from Bon Appétit/Andrews McMeel, LLC

Last week we had the pleasure to provide the meat for a lovely food and wine event at the Astor Center in New York. The event was titled “Grilling and Swilling: Hot Weather Reds and Heritage Meats,” and looked at pairing favorite summer grilling recipes with delicious red wines. The event helped raise money for our friends at Heritage Radio Network.

1. Melt one cup butter in a small sauce pan. Add the juice of the lemon and turn off the heat

2. In a large bowl, or gallon-sized zip top bag, combine the salt and oregano. Completely coat each piece of chicken in the mixture so that you can barley see any chicken through the coating.

3. Grill the chicken over high heat. As you turn it, basted it with the butter-lemon mixture. Cook until you have good color all the way around. This takes about 15 minutes. It smells amazing and you’ll understand why you’re outside when you see the herb-scented smoke plumes floating over your neighbor’s place.

4. Transfer the chicken to a pot large enough to comfortably hold it all, add the wine and remaining butter-lemon mixture and tightly cover. You can proceed from here either on a gar grill or inside on the stovetop.

5. Cook the chicken over medium-low for about 90 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and falling off the bone.

1. combine all the marinade ingredients, including the pork, a large pinch of kosher salt and a few cracks of black pepper in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at large 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

2. Meanwhile, make the yogurt sauce – stir together all the ingredients, starting with just a pinch of salt, then taste and add more salt if you’d like. Keep cold. This can keep in the fridge for up to a week.

3. Skewer the pork cubes onto wooden or metal skewers (if using wood, make sure the ends don’t poke out form the pork – they’ll burn even if you soak them). Grill over medium-hot, preferably charcoal, but gas will do the job too, 20-25 minutes. Generously baste with the marinade for the first 19 minutes.

4. Arrange the skewers on a pretty serving platter and sprinkle with scallions and parsley. Serve with the cold yogurt sauce and the pita, wrapped in a beautiful tea towel.

It doesn’t seem like there should be that much mystery involved in cooking a steak, but it is not as easy as you may think…or maybe it’s way easier and you are just over thinking it. I know that until recently most steaks I cooked were either way over done or stabbed to death with a meat thermometer (usually some combination of the two), but I have since read up on the subject and can confidently grill or pan sear a steak. I consider this a major life accomplishment.

So, here are a few simple tips gathered from around the internet and tested in my kitchen:

Start with a good steak. At Heritage we carry Ribeye and NY or Kansas City Strip steaks. Our farmers care about the health of their cattle and the conditions they are kept in and that translates to high quality meat.

Know what you like and don’t get too distracted by lots of labels and titles. Prime, Choice, and Select are all USDA distinctions related to tenderness and marbling – they say nothing about the cow. Organic, grass-fed, and grain finished related to how the cow was raised, but can also indicate how the beef might be. Grain finished tends to have more marbling and be more tender, while grass-fed may have a more distinct flavor and leaner, more developed muscle. Know what you are looking for in a steak and choose accordingly.

Salt. Salt is important not only for flavor, but also for moisture. Salt draws moisture out of your beef before you cook it, so it browns better (and tastes better)

Use a thermometer. A thermometer is like an x-ray for your steak – it can tell you exactly what’s going on inside.